Tories: Police Federation fanning flames of Andrew Mitchell row

Tories believe the Police Federation is stoking the row over Andrew Mitchell after his confrontation with armed officers in Downing Street. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

It is a sign of how politics has moved on from the days of Margaret Thatcher that a senior Conservative can find himself in a slanging match with the police and survive.

In the 1980s it was irresponsible left wingers, who had no respect for law and order in the eyes of the Thatcherites, who would clash with police.

And yet Andrew Mitchell, the man charged with ensuring discipline in the Tory ranks as chief whip, remains in his post even after admitting that he swore at police in Downing Street last week.

There is one simple – and one deeper – reason why Mitchell has survived. In the first place David Cameron accepts that Mitchell did not call the police "plebs" – the most damaging allegation levelled against him by the police through the pages of the Sun.

No 10 is nervous about voicing, even in private, the deeper reason why Mitchell is surviving. There is a feeling among some Tories that the Police Federation, which is at war with the government over cuts, is using Mitchel's confrontation with armed officers to embarrass the government.

One Tory said:

This is what happens when you fiddle with police pay and conditions.

The prime minister has accepted Mitchell's public statement and believes he can hang on because the police officer in question has accepted his apology. Government sources believe it is the Police Federation acting as a trade union – and not the individual officer – that is fanning the row. This explains why Nick Clegg said it was "significant" that the police officer in question has accepted Mitchell's apology.

Perhaps David Davis, Mitchell's original patron, is allowing himself a quiet chuckle. Davis came to loathe the Metropolitan Police during his time as shadow home secretary during the row over detention without charge. One of his supporters who was arrested by the police for doing the job of an opposition politician (Damian Green) is now police minister.

An even older ally (Andrew Mitchell) has done what Davis would always love to do: give the police a piece of his mind.

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